African news updates from the BBC

Huge explosions rock Equatorial Guinea's main city

Covid: 'My family told me to marry at 14'

By Eva Ontiveros

BBC World Service

The woman with HIV helping others have a 'good death'

By Megha Mohan

Gender and identity correspondent

Aftermath of Equatorial Guinea explosions

Senegal ‘on the verge of an apocalypse’

Seven killed as cars swept away by Algeria floods

BBC World Service

BBC

At least seven people have died in flooding caused by torrential rain in north-western Algeria.

The victims - including two children - were travelling in cars that were swept away by raging waters in the Chlef region.

Rescuers are searching for other people who are unaccounted for, and more rain is forecast.

Egypt and Sudan add to pressure on Ethiopia over Nile dam

Will Ross

Africa editor, BBC World Service

Reuters

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is a source of national pride for Ethiopia

Egypt and Sudan have once again called for international mediation to end a long-running dispute over the construction of Ethiopia's dam on the River Nile.

Both countries fear the dam could affect their water supply.

The call came as the Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was on a visit to Sudan for the first time since the overthrow of its former President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

During his visit to Khartoum Mr Sisi met Sudan’s civilian and military leaders.

The fact that these were separate meetings points to the somewhat awkward relationship between the different personalities in Sudan's transitional administration.

But it seems they all agreed on one key issue: Ethiopia’s controversial dam.

In a statement after the talks, Egypt and Sudan called for a new round of dialogue with an expanded mediation team to include officials from the African Union, the United States, the EU and the UN.

They said an agreement had to be reached before Ethiopia starts the next stage of filling the dam's huge reservoir, which is expected to begin in June or July.

While Ethiopia says it is willing to keep talking, it wants to stick to the dialogue organised by the African Union and does not want to involve these additional international mediators. So for now the dispute rumbles on.

Egypt has long opposed the construction of the dam because it relies so heavily on the water from the Nile. It’s possible that Sudan could benefit from it though – experts say there would be less flooding and Sudan could get electricity in return.

But in recent months Khartoum has hardened its position taking Egypt’s side.

With the two countries signing military agreements and forming closer and closer ties this could increase the pressure on Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Read more:

• Ethiopia's River Nile dam: How it will be filled
• Egypt-Ethiopia row: The trouble over a giant Nile dam

'We're the government and we know what you're doing'

The women of Egypt's Arab Spring

Yemen aid cut condemned by charities

How a Kenyan town morphed into 'Little Italy'

Protests after Senegal opposition leader arrested

Scroll down for Friday's stories

That's all from BBC Africa Live for now. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast, or check the BBC News website.

A reminder of our wise words of the day:

Hopes kill a hunter."

A Lhukonzo proverb sent by Geofrey Baluku in Kasese, Uganda

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you this shot taken at a parade by Sahrawi people living in Algeria - it's one of our favourites taken this past week:

Reuters

'Every artist should have their own record label' - Black Coffee

DJ Edu

This Is Africa

ALARI TEEDE

Black Coffee is an extraordinary individual. He started DJing aged 13 – his grandmother didn’t mind too much as long so he was home to milk the cows at 0500 and 1600.

At 14 he had a terrible accident. He was celebrating the release of Nelson Mandela when a car veered into the crowd he was in.

His left arm was permanently damaged and he only has the use of one hand. It didn’t stop him.

Through sheer determination he has become one of the most sought-after DJs in the world, regularly playing at iconic clubs in Berlin, Ibiza, Miami, and more.

He’s also an award-winning producer of Afrohouse music and a luminary of the African music industry.

"I find significance in the fact that the name of such a great man is linked to my accident," Black Coffee tells me.

"It’s a constant reminder of what I need to do as a young African guy who understands how much Africa needs guys who want to make Africa great. So every time I think of my injury, I think of this great man and I think of the responsibility that I have."

Black Coffee's latest passion is transforming the relationship between African artists and record labels:

I've just bought Gallo, the biggest record company on the continent. Signing artists to labels is the worst way to help artists because the contracts are never fair. We’re starting a new way where we want every artist to have their own record label and own their music. Hopefully that’s something that can grow to the entire continent.”

He’s just dropped his much anticipated new album Subconsciously -his first for several years. It includes collaborations with Celeste, Pharrell Williams, Usher, Diplo and many more.

“I’ve never had an album this successful. We’ve hit over 100 million streams on it.”

But it hasn’t been met with universal enthusiasm. South African fans are holding back:

“The locals are like: 'This album is not for us. This is not the Black Coffee we know.' But I’m like it’s 15 years later now. I’m definitely not going to sound the same. I need to move on, I need to grow, I need to find other people to collaborate with. I need to do a song with Coldplay now, with Adele, with Beyonce.”

So that’s Black Coffee’s ambition now? “Yes Sir!”

You can hear more from Black Coffee on This is Africa this weekend, on BBC World Service radio and partner stations across Africa, and online.

Schools to reopen in Mozambique on Monday

Jose Tembe

BBC News, Maputo

Mozambique has announced that schools will reopen from Monday after being closed in some cases for as long as a year.

President Felipe Nyusi said the risk of coronavirus transmission was low but schools “could interrupt their face-to-face teaching activities or begin them at a later date” as needed.

It applies to all levels of education, although pre-school nurseries were not mentioned in the president's speech.

Teachers told the BBC they backed the move.

“It was the right decision. With so many problems with access to technology that students often present, this is an opportunity for us to take some steps forward," said Julio Manjate.

University lecturer Gil Lauriciano saw it as a "necessary risk" considering "schools have been closed in some cases for a year.

Three rappers 'arrested at Senegal protests'

Local reports indicate that three rappers and activists have been arrested in Senegal's ongoing protests against the detention of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.

The three arrested are Thiat, Kilifeu and Samba Loum.

Reports say they were taking part in demonstrations in Dakar.

Macron's Algeria torture admission 'not enough'

Ahmed Rouaba

BBC News

AFP

Malika Boumendjel died last year, before hearing the apology she had long sought

France’s admission about the abduction and murder of Algerians during the war of independence is a big step but it is not enough, according to French historian Fabrice Riceputi.

It is a huge moment for the grandchildren of lawyer Ali Boumendjel, who were received by French President Emmanuel Macron to hear the truth about the assassination of their grandfather.

His widow Malika Boumendjel, who fought for decades for the truth about her husband’s disappearance rejecting the French official account of suicide, passed away last year aged 101 without hearing the acknowledgement she waited for all her life.

For Riceputi a rexamination of the French colonial rule in Algeria should not be restricted to "emblematic figures" such Maurice Audin and Ali Boumendjel.

The French army in Algeria adopted since 1957 the technique of "forced disappearance" as a systematic method to crush the nationalists, according to Mr Riceputi.

It consisted of abducting, murdering and disposing of the body of any Algerian they suspect of having links with the FLN which led the war for independence.

There were tens of thousands in the capital city, Algiers and many more throughout the country, he says.

It was a "system designed to terrify the population" and silence dissidents and supporters of independence, the historian says.

It has also left dozens of thousands of families and generations of their descendants suffering decades of emotional and psychological trauma.

Mr Riceputi believes that the French authorities are avoiding the essence of the truth through these "selected" and "high-profile" admissions.

What Mr Macron is currently doing, according to him, is "distributing acknowledgements" to the far right here and to the Algerians there, seeking to please all parties.

In 2017 while a presidential candidate, Mr Macron described colonialism as a "war crime" that would be prosecuted nowadays but later fell short of the apology Algerians have been demanding.

The routine torture and murder of Algerian civilians by the French army during the seven-year war that some say claimed 1.5 million Algerian lives has been hushed up for decades.

Indeed, France has never even recognized the existence of a "war" in Algeria. Until 1999 they have always called it the "events" or "troubles" of Algiers. The atrocities committed by their army were described as "operations to maintain order".

Campaigning kicks off in Congo-Brazzaville election

Emery Makumeno & Will Ross

BBC News

Election campaigns have begun in Congo-Brazzaville ahead of the presidential poll in just over two weeks' time.

The incumbent, Denis Sassou Nguesso, is seeking a fourth term. Apart from a five-year period he has been leading the country since 1979 and will face six opposition candidates.

These include two former ministers, Mathias Dzon and Guy-Brice Parfait Kolélas, who have become fierce critics of the president.

Last month Catholic bishops and civil society groups expressed concern about the transparency of the elections.

Congo-Brazzaville has been hit hard by the low price of oil, and last year the International Monetary Fund revealed that the country was spending five times more on debt repayments than on healthcare.

Who is left behind by Kenya's digital IDs?

The Comb podcast

Naima Ibrahim Rajab

When Kenya’s government began collecting fingerprints and scanning faces in 2019, Naima Ibrahim Rajab was concerned.

She is a member of the Nubian community, many of whom still don’t have Kenyan citizenship despite being forcibly moved there from Sudan over a century ago by British colonial forces.

Rights groups have challenged Kenya’s nationwide biometric data-gathering project, while Naima has also witnessed the exclusionary effect of not having official ID.

“One of the major implications is increased rate of crime among the youth,” she says of her community in Nairobi’s poor Kibera settlement.

“Because now they do not have an ID, they cannot access a good job. They cannot go to school. So they resort to other means of earning money.

But she is also aware that this ID system could be open to abuse.

“The government will have a 360-degree view of my actions and my personal information, and they could misuse this to target and profile communities like the Nubians.”

Huduma Namba, as Kenya’s biometric scheme is called, means “service number” in Swahili. Each citizen is to be assigned a unique ID code, to vote, access healthcare, education, and get a mobile phone.

It will become “the authentic single source of truth on personal identity in Kenya,” President Uhuru Kenyatta says.

In this episode of The Comb, we hear from researchers and experts about how best to tackle this controversial topic.

How is Africa’s vaccine rollout going?

By Peter Mwai

BBC Reality Check